The Tale of Haroldus Potter
by Mordecai the Barman
Summary: HP xover Voldemort does a ritual to become immune to time, and goes into hiding. Harry does a ritual to ensure his soul floats in the ether until Voldemort comes out of hiding and will then be reborn.ABANDONED
1. Chapter 1

Harry was in a state of mild shock. The reality of what he had just been told crashing down on him, he was forced to sit.

He was in the Headteacher's office of Hogwarts, the Order of the Phoenix gathered there, all of them in at least mild shock, after listening to Snapes report. The surly spy had just returned from a meeting with the Dark Lord, where Voldemort had announced a new plan.

The only reason the Snape was still alive whilst in the presence of the Order, was a pensive memory of Dumbledore's which was a of a prophesy spoken to him over eight decades before. The rough just of the prophesy was that Dumbledore would sacrifice himself in the name of his cause to allow a key spy to retain his cover. That and a letter written by Dumbledore allowed them to absolve Snape of the blame. Though none of them ever trusted him again in the slightest.

After two years of searching Harry, with the help of Professor Flitwick and, surprisingly, Neville Longbottom, had managed to finally destroy all the Horcruxes. His companions had been a surprise for him as much as for everyone else, it had been expected that Hermione and Ron would be with him every step of the way. The original trio spent 4 months training after Dumbledore's death. The training was broad, covering damn near every subject and branch of magic that anyone in the Order could use. However, when they went after their first target, a minor pedlar in Knockturn Alley, they encountered stiff resistance, and Harry was the only one to escape unharmed. Ron was hit at the same time by a heart crushing curse, and a heart exploding curse. Since the two curses had opposite effects, neither worked, but since then he had a very weak heart, and was unable to participate in combat. Hermione left the battle in perfect health apart from missing her left eyeball, it having been summoned during the fight. As well as throwing off her aim somewhat, this made Hermione terrified of going near combat, in case she lost her other eye, and thus the ability to read and research.

Ron had proved adept enough at healing magic that he was able to still help, and he was skilled enough with ward construction that he was able to help with that from time to time as well. Hermione remained in the Order as a researcher, specifically looking for ways to destroy Horcruxes, and to find them from a distance.

Despite the injuries sustained in that battle Harry as able to obtain information that allowed him to locate another horcrux, the Cup. Before going after it, he admitted that he needed people with him, to cover his back. Neville was an immediate choice for him, because while he wasn't the most confident or muscle bound person, his skill at defensive magic had become nearly as good as Moody's. He was able to recognise nearly every Dark Curse on the books, from sight and the feel of the magic. He also knew the counter curses and appropriate shields for them all. He might be nearly a squib when it came to transfiguration, but with shield charms he was better even than Harry. Professor Flitwick had offered to accompany them, since with the loss of Hermione, they didn't have a charms expert. He also brought with him just over a century of experience in the magical world, which was more than enough to lt him know how a magicians mind worked.

The mission had been a success, and with enough training the three of them became a wonderful team. Death Eaters learned the hard way to beware them, and to beware what would happen if one was hurt.

Flitwick ended up with an almost paternal relationship with the boys, like a favourite Uncle. Not quite a parent but more popular than almost any parent.

Neville was like a brother to him, and had in fact saved his life directly on more than one occasion. The most memorable was when Harry had informed Ginny that he didn't harbour any feelings for her anymore. Her immediate reaction was one of anger and hatred. This hatred gave Voldemort the stepping stone he needed to possess her mind, using the remnants of the link left from the Chamber of Secrets incident. Ginny had been half way through the incantation of the killing curse, when Neville reacted, his anger at her overpowering his simple banishing charm and causing her body to become a crushed and dripping mess on the wall. This had caused a breech between Harry and the Weasley's, except Bill who had been there at the time. The rest of them couldn't accept that their daughter would do such a thing, and blamed Harry and Neville jointly.

With the recent destruction of the last horcrux Voldemort was panicking. According to Snape the latest meeting was to inform his Death Eater's that he was entering a period of seclusion after which he would give them further orders. They were to lie low in the mean time in the hope of causing general fear and paranoia in the populous.

A select few Death Eater's, the Dark Lords favourites, had been ordered to remain, whilst the others left. Snape was among those selected to stay. Each one of them had a particular skill, Snape with potions, Rabastan with runes, Rookwood with spell creation etc. Funnily enough, Lucius Malfoy, who liked to boast of being the Lords favourite, was not among those ordered to remain.

Voldemort divulged his plan to those remaining. He planned to go through a series of complicated rituals that would allow him to become immune to the effects of time. It wasn't immortality, his body could still be hurt, but he would not age. After the rituals he would enter a secure area, hidden by a modified fidelius that used a solid object as the secret keeper. He would stay there for long enough that he was sure Harry Potter would have died before emerging and taking over the world. All in all he thought it was a masterful plan.

Once Snape had told the Order all of this, there was a shocked silence, before Tonks summed everyone's feelings up with "Well, shit!"

That broke the ice and everyone started to babble, Mrs Weasley screaming hysterically, Moody yelling about "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" and everyone else muttering to their neighbours. Only the new trio and Snape stayed silent. Harry, Neville and Flitwick were all mulling it over in their minds. Snape was just sneering at the entire room.

Eventually it was decided that they would have to start researching ways in which Harry could become immune to time as well, without resorting to the same dark rituals as Voldemort.

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Harry was sitting in his room at Hogwarts, where he was currently residing so as to have greater access to the library and Dumbledore's old personal stock of books. It was one such book he was currently looking through. From the title, "Advanced Theoretical Discussions and Essays Pertaining to the Study of Chronomancy in Comparison to Related Subjects on a Basis of its Effects and Morality Vol. XVII", it would probably give him some information that would be at least slightly useful, unlike most of the other books he had gone through in the last 6 months since that Order meeting.

It was a page in the middle that caught his attention, detailing what the author knew about a ritual that would allow the soul to float in the ether until a specified event came to pass. Of course all sorts of calculations had to be made, like the probably length of time to be spent in the ether compared to the age of the soul further compared with the rough magical power of the soul and so on.

It would take a lot of work, but it should work.

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Five years later there were four of them grouped at a table. Harry, Neville, Flitwick and Hermione were all there and had hardly moved from the table in the past five years.

Since Harry had found the mention of the ritual, they had researched it, modified it, researched the modifications, changed them, modified others bits and generally changed the whole thing so that it might actually work.

Thanks to Hermiones prowess with arithmancy they had been able to decide that Harry would be best to undergo the ritual at midnight of his 49th birthday. Seven x seven being a very magical number, it would give greater stability to ritual.

At the age of 24, Harry was faced with the knowledge of exactly how long he had left to spend on Earth.

Over the next 25 years, Harry, to put it lightly, went wild. He divided his time between attending social functions, buying and reading rare volumes and enjoying a very active private life that involved a different partner every week. He also invested heavily in a variety of highly successful business ventures, including WWW, Nimbus and Longbottom Supplementary Defence Education Ltd.

He studied devotedly, gaining Mastery qualifications whenever he could, though he sat for them merely so he could test his knowledge, he never stopped studying a branch of magic, nor did he ever make use of his qualifications. What he did find was that he was very suited for a very old branch of magic, now relatively unknown, that had existed before the creation of the wand or staff. Chanter magic, which was just as it sounds, the focus of magic through a chant, was slower than most wand magic, but it was infinitely more useful, because you could create a chant on the spot if you were skilled enough, and also before it could rarely be dispelled by wand magic. His love of Chanter magic caused a resurgence in its popularity, and little did Harry know that a mutated form of it would be the most prevalent form of magic when he was reborn in the future. By the time Harry was 40 he had had to create an entirely new field within the branch of occlumancy. Originally this skill had been designed simply to block intruders from entering your mind and to allow you to keep a clear mind by eliminating all emotion. Harry expanded on that by going within his shields, which were exceedingly powerful as well, and ordering his mind, organising it so that he could store his knowledge and retrieve it almost without thought. This allowed him to keep track of everything he learned without having to regularly read through reams of notes to refresh his memory.

At the age of 48 Harry started to set his affairs in order. He opened a vault at Gringotts, where he placed about 2/3 of his personal fortune and organised that all income from his investments would be paid into that vault from then on. The vault's purpose was to give a small supplementary income to anyone who could prove a blood descent link to him. he didn't really want to think about the number of fatherless children who were probably his. The rest of his fortune and most of his existing properties were to be given to Saint Mungo's upon his "death". Personal objects were left to or given to those he felt deserved them.

Finally the eve of his 49th birthday arrived. Everything was in readiness and Harry had bid goodbye to all those whom he had been friends with over the years.

As midnight struck Harry knelt within a septangle quickly reeling of a chant under his breath, six wizards and one witch arranged at the points of the drawing on the floor. Each of the onlooker started up a separate chant, each with its on purpose to the ritual, some to stabilise Harry's soul in the ether, some to protect it from the demons that lurked their, some to ensure the safe transition to the ether. Harry's own chant was setting the exact time that he would be reborn.

49 minutes later, all their chants stopped and the magic that had been gathering exploded into the diagram that contained Harry, ripping his soul from his body, opening a portal to the ether and at the same time destroying the body as a blood sacrifice to fuel its defence against the demons of the ether.

An almost subzero cold filled the great hall at Hogwarts where they had chosen to perform the ritual. A rushing noise that had filled the room when they stopped chanting ended abruptly, and all the magic inside the diagram imploded on itself, sealing shut the portal and obliterating all the was within the boundaries of the runic protections wrought in the diagram.

Exactly an hour after they started, everything finished. All that was left was seven witches and wizards, all of whom had tears streaming down their cheeks and a large scorch mark on the floor that would never quite disappear. Each person their had seem the expression of agony on Harry's face, and they had also seen the vague and terrifying shapes that lurked within the ether.

None of them ever forgave themselves, and all of them did their utmost for the rest of their lifetimes to make sure that the wizarding world did nothing that would let Harry down. Unfortunately the wizarding world forgot about Harry only a few years after his death, and it went downhill from there.

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Floating in the ether was a strange experience for Harry, when he paid attention he could make out the horrific forms of demons who wanted nothing more than to swallow his soul being held back by the protective shield that encompassed him. If, however, he focused on Earth he could glean snatches of what was happening. However, since time had no meaning in the ether, what he learned from Earth was often highly confusing and took him a while to put together.

From what he managed to work out, not long after his death, the Purebloods managed to gain control over the legal processes. Due to this the world became so prejudice against muggleborns that as soon as they finished their education they re-entered muggle society and rarely used magic for anything other than small amounts of help around the house.

Over time, so many muggleborns and half-bloods ended up living in muggle society that they formed their own groups. They educated their children in muggle and magical subjects together, rather than send them into the magical world. Because of this, certain subjects became more prevalent, and other branches of magic became less used, as only those that were known within a group were taught. While a lot of groups had a well rounded selection of subjects, some had only a small number that could be taught to any high level, with the basics of only a few other subjects being known. Strangely enough, the only branch of magic that was found in every group was chanter magic.

Some of the groups that became rather specialised in different branches would later coin specific names, like astrotelepath's and navigators, due to the highly individualised nature of their magic.

Inevitably the muggle world eventually became aware of the magic users living amongst them. However, the groups that had nothing to do with the wizarding world rejected the labels of "wizard" and "witch", instead choosing to be collectively known as "psykers".

They were generally accepted, and even welcomed at times, though in some places round the world they were persecuted and and feared. Attitudes towards them varied as time went on, different eras and governments caused different prejudices and fears to arise.

Harry watched all this, and he also watched as the remains of the wizarding world, who only occasionally gained new blood, and most of that left as soon as their education was finished, remained stagnant. They fiercely protected their secrecy from muggles, and even went so far as to allow for the humane execution of any muggle who witnessed wizarding activity, due to the recent break throughs in the working of the mind by muggles that allowed them to break through obliviations.

Harry watched as Mankind developed amazing technology and expanded amongst the stars. During this period psykers were welcomed with open arms, as they were extremely useful on unsettled planets. He watched as Mankind achieved great wonders of stellar engineering, of terraforming and of astro-genetics. He admired great vessels as they passed through warp space, mere feet from him, held safe from the attacks on demons by the psychics within, and those who were involved in the construction on Earth.

Then came the disaster. Great storms swept through the ether. He was forced to watch as great vessels, carrying thousands of people, were ripped apart, and as others were thrown drastically off course. So great was his grief, he did not notice as the storms changed the magic the spell surrounding him.

When the storms stopped, he watched again in relief as Mankind once again grew to spectacular proportions. He watched as the Emperor, who from his looks seemed to be related to Harry to some degree, led campaign after campaign. Harry watched as the Adeptus Astartes was formed, as they conquered huge swathes of the Universe, and in sorrow as they fought each other. He watched in horror, as the chaos legions invaded Earth, or Terra as it was now called, and he felt great sorrow as millions of loyal and faithful followers of the Emperor were cut down and slaughtered. He was overjoyed when the armies of Horus were beaten back, and was worried when the Emperor along with some of his faithful teleported onto Horus' flagship. His joy was endless as the Emperor smote Horus down, and at the same time his grief was depthless as the Emperor was mortally wounded. He watched in something near pride as the Imperium of Man survived the horrifically large numbers lost during the Horus Heresy, and as they once again spread out over the galaxy, fighting darkness and chaos as they encountered them.

All this seemed to stretch out over eternity, and also to happen in an instant. The ether distorted time to such an extent that Harry felt both as though he had been there forever and as thought he had only just arrived.

Thus Harry was very confused when his souls started to speed through the Warp, out pacing great fleets and even the demons, towards a small y class world on the inner most reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus. The planet of Kalithar was small enough that it received very little attention from the Ministorum or the Administratum. The population of the world was only in the region of three million or so. It was not a recruiting ground for any of the Astartes Chapters, and it maintained only a small recruiting station for the Imperial Guard, not being expected to produce an entire regiment of its own. It was home to enough factories, farms, mines and Universities to be totally self-sufficient.

The majority of the worlds population resided in small villages and townships, usually grouped around factories or mines or in an area of fertile land or on the coast of a populous sea. There were a few larger towns spread around the world, but no where was there something that could be classed as a city.

Harry lost awareness for a while, how long he wasn't sure, but when he woke he was no longer in warp. It was strange for him, because, while there was no other soul in the body for his to meld with, he had an adults mind, trying to fit into a babies brain. Eventually his internal conflict settled down, with the greater portion of his mind awaiting him in the undeveloped parts of his brain. His first actual experience in the world, and one that he would never actually remember, was of being lifted in the arms of the village potter, who also happened to be his father, and hearing a voice booming out into the surrounding area, informing all the village folk that "My son, Haroldus Potter, is now born"


	2. Chapter 2

Life in the small village was generally peaceful and Haroldus, or Harry as he was called for quickness, grew up in a loving atmosphere. His father made a good trade as the village Potter, which actually equated to being the Supervisor at the local factory. His mother made a reasonable living helping to run the local general goods shop. His Grandfather would spend most of the day with him, looking after him whilst his parents were at work. Their time was spent with his Grandfather either telling stories from his time in the campaign against a medium sized Tyrannid fleet sweeping in form the south west of the Segmentum, in the 86th Kalithar Guard, a company of close combat specialists that were seconded to another regiment from a neighbouring planet for the duration of the campaign. As well as this he would read from the various religious works that he piously believed in. So Harry grew up listening to tales of the evil Tyrannid swarms and to the majesty of the Holy Emperor on Earth.

As Harry grew up, the knowledge and instincts of his previous incarnation started to flow through into his brain. It was a slow process however, and one of the first things that came through was the need to keep it an absolute secret. So apart from his relatives noticing that he was awfully quiet at times, and sometimes the way he seemed to blank out reality all together and retreat into his head, they thought nothing of it and assumed that he was simply playing in his imagination as young children are prone to do.

Two years after he was born, he received a younger brother, and the two of them were fairly inseparable from when Talus, his brother, started to walk. When they weren't listening to tales from their grandfather, who told them willingly, in hopes that one of them would follow in his foot steps, though hopefully without loosing a leg and hand as he had, they were out in the fields playing games with each other and the other local children.

However, one day when Harry was about five and a half his live changed horribly. He and Talus were out in the fields playing a game with each other, when there was a screaming over head, and a flight of large black ships flew in from the atmosphere. Harry knew that there were no supply ships or trading vessels expected in in the near future, and he also get an undefinable feeling of dread from the ships. He watched as they landed in the middle of the village square and disembarked menacing spindly figures in black armour.

He quickly told Talus to lie down and stay very still, instincts from his previous life taking over, and then made his way stealthily towards the village.

When he arrived at the nearest buildings he saw a scene that his young mind refused to comprehend at first. The people in black armour were dragging all the women they could find towards their ships, whilst they were shooting all the men with strange pistol like weapons.

Harry watched in horror as his father was shot down, trying to protect his wife with a pair of laser cutting tools. His mother was dragged by the hair to the ships, screaming in grief all the way. He saw his grandfather sitting against the wall of their small house, blood dribbling down his chin, and spurting out a wound in his side, but still conscious and wielding an old, out of date, but still fully functioning las pistol. His shots were becoming further and further apart, and his aim was rather poor, but when one of his shots struck one of the aliens in the face, blowing a whole out the back of its head, he was suddenly shoot no less than 5 times in quick succession. The las pistol fell to the ground, useless.

Harry turned away as the raiders were starting to set fire to the village, deciding that he has best get back to Talus to calm him down. By this point Harry was working solely on instincts, completely suppressing all the emotions that a 5 year would naturally feel after seeing his family killed or kidnapped.

All the emotion found an outlet as he rounded the last of the buildings, and saw one of the strange garbed raiders holding a gun to Talus' head, and he pulling the trigger with an expression of something close to relish on its face.

Harry started to speak in a high clear voice, enunciating carefully a verse he had heard his grandfather read many times. The Battle Prayer for the Smiting of the Heretic. Perhaps not exactly accurate for the situation, but better than nothing. He did it instinctively, recalling his grandfathers tales of how he had won his decorations for bravery and piety, by heading off an attacking swarm on his own, all the time reciting the same Battle Prayer in a loud carrying voice. His grandfather refused to accept credit of course, but there were tales of how his actions had kept the entire battle line standing bravely in position, the Battle Prayer at first echoing in a single voice along the entire ridge line they were occupying, until the chaplains, then the commissars, then the officers, followed by the sergeants and enlisted men all shook off their stunned silence at the bravery it took to start such a chorus, and they all joined in the recitation with avengance, shaking off their fear and terror, fighting with renewed passion, and in the end winning the day. When his grandfather had been named as the one responsible for starting the chorus, the Lord Commander himself visited him in the field hospital where he was being treated for a missing hand and poisoned leg.

The Lord Commander was said to have praised him highly for his valour, and awarded him the Golden Star of Praise, denoting great courage. The story was one that Harry had heard many times from this grandfather, and each time it was accompanied by a rendition of the Battle Prayer.

Unknowingly, Harry forced his emotion into his recitation, and acting instinctively he delved into his undeveloped psykic potential. His prayer rang across across the intervening distance and literally struck out at the alien. What remained of the body was sent flying through the air towards the ships, which seemed to be enough to make them take off.

Harry was later found kneeling by the body of his brother, weeping silently, declaring over and over his hatred for the xenos scum that had done this.

Officials who investigated the incident concluded that the destroyed body lying the central area of the village must have been previously wounded or killed and merely got caught in the burn of the engines of the ships as they took off.

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Harry was moved to an Ecclesiarchy run Orphanage, where he was one among many children, a nameless, faceless body to the majority of the staff. His life there was a strictly run routine, that left no room for such activities as playing, like he was used to.

It took him several months before he settled into it, and he worked hard at being accepted. His typical day consisted of being woken up soon after dawn by a bell being run, having a scant 15 minutes to prepare for the day before breakfast was served. A typical breakfast would consist of a plain but highly nourishing form of gruel prepared from locally grown crops. From the end of breakfast until early afternoon, all the orphans would be expected to participate in a variety of religious studies and activities. These activities varied for the different age groups, with the younger children simply listening to a cleric reading passages, then repeating them, and for the older children having contests and challenges of memory and skill. In the early afternoon the children would eat lunch, usually consisting of a nutrient high and flavour low fibrous mush. From the end of lunch until early evening they would have a variety of lessons, ranging from basic mathematics, to physical education, stellar astronomy and intergalactic politics and business. All of these classes were provided and taught either by clerics at the Orphanage or by local volunteers. This was followed by an evening meal that varied from night to night, but usually consisted of a protein and a variety of vitamin and mineral high objects.

It was in the early evening that Harry got his chance to shine. They had what was termed as "private study" time, where they were expected to either be with one of the tutors, in the supervised library or with another of the clerics. After several months of simply going to the supervised library to either do research for his tutorials or to read from the Holy Scripts, Harry became friendly with one of the kinder clerics at the Orphanage. He was a senior cleric, who was in charge of teaching basic medicinal skills to the orphans. Harry first became friendly with him because he was a former medic from the exact same unit as Harry's grandfather had been in, and even remembered the man himself. He encouraged Harry to spend the evenings with him, and together they worked through Harry's grief from what had happened to his village. Brother Kiand, the senior cleric, had been saddened but unsurprised to find that no one had spoken to Harry about what had happened.

Harry told him everything, except about what happened to the last alien, Brother Kiand later told him they were known as Dark Eldar, he merely said that the alien had shot Talus, then gone back to his ship.

Brother Kiand looked up from the plant he was trimming and put his hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry, one day you will come to realise that what happened was not your fault, but I cannot help you with that. Please, come to me if you ever feel the need to talk, but always remember 'Faith is mankind's barrier against darkness'. It is stated so in the Holy Writings, where it is also said that the emotions you are feeling, fear, self loathing and doubt, are all that is required to fall into the hands of the dark ones. Be wary Harry, and let Faith be your guardian."

Little did Brother Kiand know, but that last sentence would have a profound affect on Harry.

From then on, Harry spent each evening with Brother Kiand, either helping with the medicinal plants, or memorising passages from the Scriptures and Holy Books. As the next few years passed Harry found he had an amazing propensity for memorisation, though he didn't know that it came from his modified occlumancy training in his previous existence. Such things were common for him, coming over to him from his previous life, but him not realising that they were such.

A notable incident was when one of the older orphans, who was in fact going to be leaving the orphanage due to his age, decided to have some fun at dinner time, by throwing an entire plate of mouldy fruit at a table of youngsters. Harry, who had been granted permission to take a copy of the Book of the Emperor's Judgement's from the library to study in his own time, was sitting reading it at the table, and was only saved a sound whipping for getting a holy book damaged by the instinct that had him turn round his fork extended in front of him. The fruit that had been flying right at where the book as, impaled itself on the fork. Harry had no idea as to why he turned round, only that he had felt the need to.

This had started the rumours that he was a psycher, and had driven him even further apart from the rest of the orphans. They taunted and teased him, which he could ignore, but when a cleric let two of the older orphans off after catching them beating Harry because their excuse was that "pain cleanses the body" and that "the filthy heretic needs cleansing", Harry went to Brother Kiand.

They had grown close over the years, and the cleric had assumed the role of favourite uncle, or almost even father, though not quite. When Harry appeared in his doorway, his clothing ripped, and his face swelling, he knew that there was something wrong, that went beyond the obvious physical abuse Harry had suffered.

He immediately went into medical mode, applying a variety of poultices to Harry that worked to reduce the swelling almost immediately. When that was done, and Harry was sitting in front of a fire with a hot drink Brother Kiand sat down with him and asked "What is it that is bothering you little one, tell me."

Harry started to sway slightly from side to side, a sure sign that he was upset somehow. "You know what people are saying about me, don't you Brother Kiand? You know of how they say I am a psycher and a heretic. You know they insult me, and accuse me."

"Of course little one, but I can do nothing. The Administrator tolerates it, saying it will make you stronger. If he does nothing, then neither can I."

"What...what would you say, if I told you they were right. If I told you I was a psycher, which means I am a heretic."

Brother Kiand sat back in near shock. His protégé, his favourite orphan, his friend, was a psycher. Knowing his duty, and hating himself the whole time, he got up to refill their cups to cover his emotions. As he refilled Harry's cup he added a pinch of a dried herb that he hadn't put in his own.

"Well Harry," he said as he sat back down and handed Harry his cup, "I would ask what gave you that idea. Its ridiculous really."

Harry, hiccuping slightly, slowly told the truth about what happened at the massacre of his village. How he had done...something, that made the Dark Eldar explode. He started to feel drowsy during his tale, and as he finished he passed out, slurring his apology for not telling Brother Kiand the truth to begin with.

Kiand knew he had done the right thing in drugging Harry, but he couldn't help hating himself. He forced himself to follow through with his actions, forced himself to send out and emergency call to the nearest Black Ship, forced himself to sign off his young friends life.

He looked back down at Harry, but he knew he had done the correct thing. He could NOT let Harry become possessed or turn to chaos. Better that he should die, giving the Emperor himself his life energy, than that he should live and serve the Dark Gods. Thus convinced, he set about ensuring that Harry would not awake before the Black Ship arrived in several days time. He also had to ensure that the Administrator knew what was happening and that Harry would no longer be living in the orphanage.


	3. Chapter 3

The Black Ship arrived the next week, having made full speed through the warp. Brother Kiand had kept Harry under the influence of a variety of drugs, to both cloud his consciousness, keeping him in a state of semiconsciousness, and block his mind from outside influence. Harry had been kept in a small room that was well away from the main part of the Orphanage, cared for by Brother Kiand alone.

By the time the Ship arrived, the entire Orphanage knew something was going on, and that it involved "The Heretic". The whole group of Orphans were assembled near the landing pad to await inspection. The staff and clerics were grouped together at the landing field to welcome the Ship and crew.

At noon, with the sun high in the sky, blazing down mercilessly on them all, Brother Kiand spotted a black dot descending from space towards them. As it got closer, it got unimaginably larger, a great looming ominous shadow in the sky. The pristine clothes of the staff were thoroughly coated in dust thrown up by the descent of the great form. Finally the roar of the engines died away, leaving a void of deathly silence in their wake.

A ramp leading up to the side of the giant landing shuttle slammed into the ground, raising another cloud of dust. Doors slid open, and three figures emerged, striding down the ramp in a precise and formal triangle formation. The man in front was tall, of regal bearing, his face angular and scarred. His clothing was 100 percent functional, perfect for a function with the High Lords of Terra, or for up close and personal fighting with berserkers of Khorne. At his waist, a pair of bolt pistols lay in solid holsters, and around his neck hung the symbol of the Inquisition. Behind him, a slightly hunched man with a bulbous head completely covered in interconnecting wires and tubes, and a severe looking young woman, in a clinging black body suit, her hair short enough to reveal a pair of small antenna where most people have ears.

The Administrator, a bow legged man with a nervous disposition, shuffled forward to greet them, but was pre-empted.

"You are the Administrator here?" asked the scarred man in front.

"Yyyyes" stuttered the smaller man.

"I am Inquisitor Perpessio, these are my colleagues. I understand you have a psycher amongst your orphans?"

The Administrator looked about ready to pass out at the thought that he was speaking to an Inquisitor. Brother Kiand neatly stepped in front of his superior and answered the Inquisitor.

"Yes sir, I was the one who discovered him. He claims to have somehow deployed his powers against a Dark Eldar raider who had killed his brother. He has also displayed exceptional instincts."

Perpessio was an experienced Inquisitor, having served the Emperor faithfully for over 150 years, and had been lucky enough to avoid major damage over that time. Thanks in the main to his psychic power, well above that of the normal Inquisitor. Classed as a level Beta psycher, Perpessio was easily one of the most powerful psychers serving the Emperor, though he didn't hold a candle to a lot of the servants of chaos. It was thanks to this level of power that he had this current assignment. Although most Inquisitors looked upon Black Ship duty as a cushy assignment, a place to go when the high ups decided you deserved a break from more dangerous missions. Of course, most of them didn't qualify for the post, since it required that the Inquisitor have at least a level Gamma mind. To work on the Black Ship was to risk attack by the demons of the Warp at anytime. To be given the job, amongst the circle of Inquisitors who could take it, was considered an honour, a recognition of your abilities. The others, with their "minor" psychic powers, could barely handle them in a standard combat situation, let alone against an entity of the Warp.

The difference was vast, between a Delta and Minor. A Delta class psycher was an immensely powerful being, despite being the lowest of the named Classes of psycher. They could access the Warp, channel it in several different ways (though usually fairly roughly) and had an instinctive control over their abilities. A Minor class psycher was lucky to catch occasional glimpses of the Warp and usually only had one form of channelling their power, be it a lightning bolt or visions. As well as this the power behind their use of the Warp, and their control of it, was minute in comparison with a Delta class psycher, who again paled in comparison with an Alpha class psycher. An Alpha was at home as much in the Warp as in the real world. They had precise and finely tuned control almost instinctively over their power, which could come in almost any form.

Of course, both ends of the power scale had their dangers from demons. An Alpha class mind was a beacon in the Warp that even the most minor of Minor class psychers could pick them out. However, despite being completely and utterly visible to any demon who cared to open their eyes, their powers acted as a form of barrier between the demons and the human. As well as this, a demon is always rather leery of taking on an Alpha, due to an Alpha usually outclassing all but the more powerful types of demons. A Minor class mind was fainter in the Warp, but was also less refined, a bonfire in comparison with a blowtorch. The wild fluctuating energies of a Minor psycher would attract many demons, and they could easily overpower the defences of a Minor mind.

Perpessio enjoyed his job on the Ship, it was the next best thing to having an apprentice of his own, which was his dream. However, the powers that be seemed to think that they shouldn't waste his time with apprentices who couldn't so much as snuff out a candle with their mind. So he was stuck waiting for a powerful apprentice to come along and be allotted to him.

Working on the Ship gave him a chance to interact with those who's view of the Universe hadn't been clouded by the harshness of reality. He was kinder to the children than most Inquisitors were. He treated them as humans, and tried his best to make sure that their last few months or weeks of life were at the very least not terrifying for them. Most Inquisitors took some sort of sick pleasure in confining them to small cells for the majority of their time, with nothing to do. He let them interact with each other, and to an extent he interacted with them as well.

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games, he had encountered more possessions on the Ship than he had anywhere else, including Cadia, which was saying something. Most of the possessions were minor beings, to go with the Minor status of their hosts. A simple expelling ritual, or even a bullet to the head was usually all that was needed. Of course, there was the odd problem. Just over a year previously he had had to take on a fairly powerful Tzeentchen demon that had taken residence inside a Gamma class psycher. Not easy to beat, but he had managed it, and gained 3 artificial ribs and a lovely set of additions to his scar collection for his efforts.

"I see. Take me to him" With that abrupt command, Perpessio started to march into the main compound.

Kiand was forced to nearly run to keep up with him, and directed him towards a small stone hut in the far corner of the enclosed area.

"He is in their My Lord" announced Kiand as they approached the structure.

"Excellent, what condition is he in? Unconscious?"

"Semi-lucid sir, I couldn't keep him any deeper than that without harming him, with the drugs I had available sir."

"Your call to make I suppose. Fetch him out and we will be gone as soon as we can." Perpessio was eager to be gone from here. The planet was the same as hundreds of other, maybe thousands, in the universe. Including one that Perpessio had had a hand in ordering the Exterminatus on. It brought back bad memories, his last view of the planet had been of the incineration rockets speeding through the atmosphere before they had gone into the Warp. He could still here the cry of pain that resounded through the Warp, as the people of the planet died, their agony permeating all levels of existence. That day he had resolved never to order Exterminatus again, no matter the provocation.

Shaking his head to clear it, Perpessio looked on as Kiand entered the hut.

Brother Kiand was nervous, he had never had to deal with an Inquisitor before, but he had heard stories, and most of them turned out badly for those involved. To annoy an Inquisitor was to invite death, something he wasn't aiming to do. He quickly entered the small dark room where he kept Harry, and pulling a small jar from his belt, he smeared a grey-green wax under Harry's nostrils. The effect was instantaneous, Harry started to cough and wheeze, as the vapours from the wax entered his lungs, forcing him awake.

Kiand lifted him, and walked out the darkness, into the light. The imposing figure of Inquisitor Perpessio was awaiting him outside. Together they walked towards the landing craft, Kiand struggling to keep up with the Inquisitor.

"What's happening Brother" came the indistinct voice of the child, his face pressed into Kiand's chest.

"Hush Harry, everything will be ok." Kiand desperately tried to get Harry to stay quiet, in the hopes that he would not annoy Perpessio.

When they reached the ship, the woman moved forwards and removed Harry from Kiand's arms, leaving Kiand wondering if he had done the right thing and with tears of regret in his eyes.

The 3 members of the Inquisition turned on their heels and strode up into the landing craft, leaving behind once and for all the world of Kalithar.

Kiand watched sadly as the ship left, taking his little friend from him.

Aboard the ship Perpessio observed as his Interrogator Tania secured the child within one of the shielded modules, designed to withstand psychic attack from within and without. He could feel the power fading in and out of the child. It was unusual that, as though the child was possessed but the possession wasn't holding, but he couldn't feel any taint from the boy. There was something odd going on, and he would get to the bottom of it.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Sorry for the long wait, when I first posted this, someone let me know that my depiction of Inquisitorial Training was inaccurate, so I took it down to try and rewrite it more accurately, but it wasn't working, and what I was writing was awful. So I'm uploadng this again, and I'll start work on the new chapter pronto. 

The Black Ship was working its way slowly towards the outer system to enter Warp Space. Its massive dark bulk was propelled by massive plasma drive engines, but it only slowly gained much momentum. Perpessio was eager to be away from here, his senses were tingling with an anticipatory dread that wouldn't go away. He ordered the Lord Captain to make all haste, and then left the bridge.

He retreated to his quarters, where he spent several hours looking through the tablet of dispatches that the astropaths had left on his desk. The lights suddenly dimmed, turning a deep red, before a voice announced over the ship intercom that they would be entering Warp Space momentarily. Perpessio grimaced, entering Warp Space was hazardous enough as it was, but doing so whilst carrying a cargo of untrained, uncontrolled psychers was exceedingly dangerous. Entering and leaving the Warp were the two moments when the children were most at risk of possession. He left his quarters, and paced quickly along the corridor that led to the main chamber complex.

The Black Ship was a massive construction rivalling the great Battleships of the Imperial Navy in size, but the vast majority of the space was taken up by one huge cavern in the centre of the ship. In this cavern the children were kept, theoretically safer there than anywhere else apart from the Imperial Palace. The great black walls, shaped in a large dome reaching high above the heads of the tallest of men, were carved with protective wards and designs. It was the job of the attending Inquisitor to travel round the chamber once a day and reinforce the charging runes. These runes gave strength to the entire design, and should they fail, it was theorised that the entire ship would implode from the psykic backlash of the runes fighting each other for energy.

When Perpessio entered the chamber he saw that, as usual, all the children had gathered around the new comer, who was still completely illucid. When the Inquisitor entered they all stood up swiftly, almost to attention, in case he had come to address or inspect them. However, he merely went to one side of the chamber, where the Master Rune was carved, and focused his energies on it, so that he would feel if anything slipped through the shields. His mind expanded to encompass the entire ship, glancing over the blunt minds of the non-psykers, shying away from a null on the bridge crew, and locating every signal of psychic energy on the Ship. This was why only Gamma level and above could take on this duty, the control needed to hold your mind stable whilst keeping tabs on fluctuating energy signatures, whilst protecting your own soul from intrusion, and experiencing the transition into Warp Space, was simply beyond the capabilities of a Delta psyker.

As they entered the ether, he felt demons of all natures scrabble at his mind, desperately trying to punch through his shields. He ignored it, knowing there was nothing nearby powerful enough to be a threat to him, but rather turned his attention more fully on the minds of the children. He could feel the essence of the Warp trying to leak into their minds, and corrupt their souls, but he could also see their powers fight back. In a way it was beautiful. A beauty that could never really be expressed, or indeed comprehended by someone who had never experienced it, but for him, it was like watching a ballet dance. The intricate struggle of power, with him a puppet master above them all, reaching in to beat back the more powerful threats, reinforcing the minds of those who needed it. In reality most of the children were unaware of what was happened, at most feeling a sharp pain in their heads, accompanied by a rush of adrenaline as their powers soared and fought. Perpessio's mind noticed two things simultaneously, a young girl had lost her battle, and a minor entity had leaked into her, and the child next to her was projecting an aura more powerful than his own, and was smiting left and right with it, dealing horrific damage to any demon that came close.

Suddenly it was over, and they were inside the Warp, no longer at as much risk. Perpessio disengaged his mind in a hurry and, pulling out his intricately carved bolt pistol, he strode towards the centre of the chamber, where the possessed girl was standing, the other children backing away fearfully. Apart from one child, and Perpessio realised two things, first it was the new child, and second it was the source of the powerful aura.

The girl appeared to be speaking, and he strained to hear what she said. The words drifted over to his ears.

"He shall come, ten score years and more, to rip asunder the fragile peace. He Who Flies From Death shall come, reappearing where once he hid. Destroyed He must be, or else the Forces of Ruin shall spread once more to curse the Imperium of Man!"

And then the girl fell limp. Perpessio, half his mind still dwelling on what he had heard, lashed out with his mind, placing a cage of psykic energy around the girl's body, trapping the demon that had possessed her. He misjudged his power though, and the young boy was caught in the cage as well. He skidded to a halt, watching in horror as the demon materialised itself onto the deck. His cage was specifically designed to capture and destroy demons, unable to be removed except by shrinking in and crushing whatever was within it, something he was loath to do with his child he desperately wanted to study trapped inside. He was debating whether he could destroy the demon with a series of remote attacks with his mind, when he heard a low murmur coming from the boy in the cage. He appeared to be praying, reciting verses from the Holy Scriptures, which Perpessio noted was a fine thing to do when threatened with a demon, but it didn't exactly help his situation.

Harry was again in a situation where his previous lives instincts took over his mind, spilling forward and taking control. He started to chant the first thing that came to mind, the Litany of Purification, something that he had heard on numerous occasions when he had visited his father's factory and they had just completed a new project. His old knowledge focused his power through the chant, compressing it into each verse, every word, each syllable and finally the individual letters, until he air about him was literally buzzing with power. He pressed that power forward, letting it fulfil the purpose embedded in it by the words, purifying every particle it touched. Then the wall of power met the demon. The terrifying apparition started to seemingly absorb the power, but again Harry's instincts took over and he shoved the power in like a spike, ripping apart the essence of darkness that made up the demon and purifying it forever.

Inquisitor Perpessio was aghast, he had never, ever, witnessed anything like that before. He had seen trained Inquisitors destroyed by lesser entities than the one that had been before him moments before. He himself would have been hard pressed to destroy it face to face, though his cage would have allowed him to do so fairly easily. He watched as the boy, probably about 8 years old, seemed to focus out of reality, then his cage broke. That wasn't supposed to happen, in fact, it was supposed to be impossible to break a demon cage. They had been used for centuries to deal with demons for that very reason, but this boy had managed to destroy it without even directing his power through a focus of any sort. And just as the cage shattered, the boy collapsed. Perpessio recognised the signs of psykic exhaustion immediately, and rather than ignore it and leave the boy to fend for himself as many would have done he summoned a medical officer and had the boy transferred to the medical bay. Perhaps it would be better to keep the boy isolated he thought to himself, so as not to risk anything more occurring.

Harry woke up to the noise of whirring machinery, and a warm oppressive atmosphere, and for a moment he thought he was in the infirmary back on Kalithar, then reality hit him and he had vague memories of phasing out again. He never really remember what happened when he phased out, but he remembered enough to know that he had done something big enough to make him end up in the infirmary.

Suddenly an implant laden face appeared over him, taking measurements before disappearing again. The person it belonged to had however noted that the boy was awake, and summoned the Inquisitor.

Perpessio arrived a few short minutes later and decided that he would interrogate the boy there and then, whilst he was still weak.

----------

_Excerpt from the official report on Inquisitor Perpessio's Black Ship Voyage and Subsequent Interrogations:_

_The Kalitharian boy, Haroldus Potter, carries within himself an amazing level of power. He was seemingly able to, until recently, only manifest it under situations of intense stress, but following the previously described incident when entering Warp after he came aboard he appears to have gained a small measure of control over his power. When I interviewed him (see record 68B//Beta 2 for transcript) during his recovery, I tried as is standard procedure to enter his mind so as to ensure the truthfulness of his answers. The attempt was repulsed, seemingly unconsciously, but the child then told me that if I wanted to view his mind I should ask permission first. When he spoke it was as though he was older, very experienced, and used to having people do his bidding. This troubles me, but it is my strongest recommendation that the child be given Inquisitorial Training, and the opportunity to serve The Holy Emperor in the struggle against the Dark Foe. _

_There is also the matter of what the possessed witch girl prophesied before it was struck down. Its words (which can be found in record 68A//Alpha 6) rang true through the Warp, and I believe prophesy an event to come. Since the witch gave a moderately specific time frame, I feel that it should be reasonably easy for the mighty Inquisition to keep a track of events leading up to this time period, so as to detect any possible heretical activity and silence it quickly, before the foretold events come to pass._

_I sense no taint within the boy child, and with his fervent zeal and near fanatical dedication to Him on Earth, I believe he will make a valuable and powerful addition to the Holy Imperial Inquisition._

_---------_

_Excerpt from a secret recording made of a conversation held between Titan and the High Lord Inquisitor:_

"_The child is said to be __very__ powerful Titan, is he dangerous?"_

"_I do not believe so My Lord. He is certainly in possession of great power, but I believe with the correct training and appropriate stimulus he could become a most excellent weapon. According to young Perpessio's report he destroyed a demon, and very capably defended himself against intrusion from the Warp."_

"_But still, we CANNOT risk having him turn on us. It would be catastrophic. Perpessio claims he is unable to enter the child's mind without being admitted first. He's one of our strongest! How would we combat him if he turned on us. It would be destruction from within!"_

"_That, is where I come in My Lord. I will personally keep an eye on the young man, and if possible I will steer him into my Ordo, so that I may control him more fully. If he turns on us, it will be noted before he notes it himself. The potential for gain here is much greater than the potential difficulties that could arise."_

"_Very well Titan, I will take your word for it. Now, I have been receiving a number of complaints for the other Ordo's about your people disrupting their investigations..."_

_------_

_His mind was suspended in the Warp, the shimmering waves of the Immaterium roiling around him. Great forms of power rushed at him, trying to beat down his defences, trying to enter his mind, destroy him from the inside out. He lashed out with that great well of power within him, beating it around him, throwing its weight at anything that came close. Suddenly an even more powerful form rushed at him, breaking through the hastily gathered power, forcing its way through him shields, flying straight at him, a great leering face, a wide gaping mouth full of teeth, an expression that soaked up his fear as though it caused great pleasure..._

He awoke with a start, the room shimmering around him, the image of the warp superimposed over his vision. The nightmare always ended there, it had ever since that encounter aboard the Black Ship. He remembered that just the demon was about to enter him, the Ship stabled out and the wards beat the foul presence back. He never could remember much that happened after that, until Inquisitor Perpessio, may the Emperor bless his soul, had spoken to him in the Infirmary.

Following whatever had happened that day he had gained a small amount of control over his power, as though a dam had sprung a small leak. According to Inquisitor Perpessio he had been lucky that his power released a small amount at a time, otherwise his might not have been able to withstand the level of power coursing through it. At first, he had been able to simply conjure and cause limited control of small amounts of flame, but the more he used it, the more power he gained. By the time the Black Ship had arrived on Holy Terra he had been able to consciously direct a small stream of conjured fire. His practice had mostly amounted to him creating a small flickering flame inside his cupped hands. The children on board a Black Ship were prohibited from using their power in any way, and if they could not control it, they were forced to spend the voyage in nulled cells. Harry got away with it, though he was sure that Inquisitor Perpessio had known about it, the almost conspiratorial glances he occasionally shot Harry during the early morning inspections gave it away.

That had been 6 years ago, and the now 14 year old Haroldus Potter had completed the basic training required before apprenticeship to a qualified Inquisitor. The basic training was specifically designed so that area's of strong ability were noted early on, and area's poor performance could be worked on...strenuously. After basic training Apprentices would be put under the wing of an Inquisitor who could help them develop their specific strengths. Today Harry would find out who he would serve under. Secretly he hoped it would be Inquisitor Perpessio, who had kept in casual contact with him during his training, making a point to visit him every so often to see how his powers were developing, and Harry had begun to look up to him more than any other Inquisitor.

He rolled over in his cot, and looked at the illuminated chrono on the wall, nearly 5 am, when the trainers would come around and 'wake' anyone not already up. The definition of 'wake' varied from trainer to trainer, but always had one standard component...complete undesirability. Harry swung himself out of bed, slipping quietly into his training clothes, glancing over the rows of beds that held all the Apprentices around his age. He knew there was no point in washing before he got dressed, as their physical work out would quickly negate its effects. Other Apprentices were starting to stir, but Harry could already tell who would be getting the treatment today, a gut feeling he had come to trust implicitly, an off shoot of his psychic ability that had saved him from harm on more than one occasion.

Basic training was hard, designed to weed out those who would buckle under pressure. The trainers piled on work, covering every possible theatre of knowledge, from biology and anatomy, to politics and history, they were expected to learn it all. By the time Harry was 10 he could name every nerve centre in the body, and the most effective way to over stimulate each one of them. They were drilled in physical combat, trained with weapons, and made to learn the precision drills of the Imperial Guard off by heart. By the time Harry was 10, he could strip down, clean, repair, reassemble, aim and fire with reasonable accuracy, a lasgun. He could do it all blindfolded by the time he was 11. And he was by no means more than average when it came to weapons. It was in the psychic training that he came into his own. They were primarily taught how to control their minds, to guard them and protect themselves. Harry for some reason he didn't know, had a shield already in place that protected his mind, and the tutor's had quickly advanced him onto utilising his power. His level of control, even over small amounts of fire, had astounded them, and he quickly progressed, pushing to the wayside those who had jeered him for his comparative lack of ability on the firing range.

He was in a league of his own when it came to psychic power. His tutors were able to teach him general technique, and guide him when he was having trouble grasping a concept, but they were completely unable to teach him specifics. His two dedicated psychic tutors were a strong Gamma level and a weaker Beta level respectively, and whilst they were certainly not to be trifled with, he outclassed them in both power and general control. They had more finesse than he did, but that would come with practice he was sure.

"EVEEEEERYBODY UP, AREYOUSTILLSLEEPINGBOY? THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT. 20 LAPS IN THE LAKE SHOULD WAKE YOU UP. POTTER, DID YOU JUST YAWN AT ME? YES YOU DID BOY, JOIN YOUR FRIEND IN THE LAKE, 20 LAPS, WELL WHATAREYOUWAITINGFOR, **MOVE**!"

Harry, who's mouth hadn't even opened, didn't bother to express his disgust at the trainer. The man was a complete blunt, no psychic talent what so ever, and Harry couldn't help but look down on him, his perspective was so restrained and his mind so dull. The lake was the underground pool that was the the gathering point for all the melt water from the ice that surrounding the base, and thus made for an excruciating swim. A single lap, swum very quickly, could take about 6 minutes. 20 laps would seem like a lifetime. Just as he jumped in, he experienced one of the random flashes of perception that he sometimes recieved, where it was as though he was someone else but was himself. The thought that flashed through his mind this time was "Well, some things never change."


	5. Interlude

Excerpts from Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Perpessio's (low/medium level Beta class Psyker and currently stationed in the Segmentum Obscurus: Gothic Sector: Sub Sector Caerimonia) personal logs.

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.020_

_I have arrived at my new posting in the Gothic Sector, where I shall be tasked with ensuring the purity of the military forces and associated industries in this sub sector. There have been stirrings recently, rumours of cults amongst the shipbuilders and cabals amongst the weapons manufacturers. I shall make it my duty to hunt down and exterminate all such taints to protect the Holy Emperor's forces in the field from being given corrupted equipment. May He bless us in this task!_

_With me is my newly appointed Apprentice, Haroldus Potter. Since I brought him aboard the Black Ship 6 years ago, I have kept in moderate contact with him, mainly to guide him in his exploration of his powers. They currently reside at the high end of Delta class, though when he gets emotional that power spikes sharply, but his control is that of a veteran Beta level like myself. At times it seems as though he knows much more about his power than he lets on. I intend to monitor this closely, it would not do for an Inquisitor to be open to possession from Warp entities. _

_Thought for the Day: The Emperor is my Guide and my Guardian._

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.022_

_I have finally succeeded in driving out the vestiges of the Cult. They had managed to work their influence widely into the workforce of the ship yards here on _Hydrophon Primus _and I was forced to individually examine every worker present for the taint. _

_My Apprentice has been of great assistance in this endeavour. We recently discovered he is able to both lend and borrow power with others. By lending me his not inconsiderable power reserves my own were boosted enough that I was able to carry out thorough examinations without tiring or causing damage to the receiver. I can only channel a small portion of his additional power at any one time before fine control escapes me, but he seems able to channel his own power plus great quantities of mine without hesitation or detriment. This new ability of his shall no doubt serve us well, especially as his powers continue to grow: He is currently verging into the Gamma class realm and with my additional power can increase to near Beta level._

_Thought for the Day: Faith is my Armour. Hatred my Weapon._

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.025_

_By the Will of the Holy Emperor we managed to put the Cult down once more, this time it arose in the Fabricatum District, but minimal damage was done. I will be formally recommending Haroldus's promotion to Acolyte in recognition of his efforts against this Cult. I imagine once our service here is through he will have as thorough a knowledge of Cult mechanics as it is possible for an Inquisitor to have, something I hope will serve him well._

_His powers continue to grow, as does his control. The 'lapses' where he seems to grow older and wiser, more knowledgeable and more capable grow more constant, but are triggered by high outage of psykic energy. Its as though there is another being trapped within him, not a daemon or another Warp entity, but something or someone from long ago...which is of course impossible. His level of fine control is impressive in general, but it only seems to grow when he is doing anything fire related. From our earliest meetings aboard the Black Ship, I have noticed that he is particularly attracted to fire in its many forms. He recently mastered the creation of Holy Fire, something most Inquisitors fail to every manage, and something I myself only managed towards the latter end of my training. _

_His mastery of this technique was adequately demonstrated in our latest clash with the Cult when he utilised it to destroy a forming Warp entity before it could properly manifest itself and reek havoc._

_Thought for the Day: Fire purifies the tainted. The Emperor absolves the Pure._

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.040_

_The Cult grows more daring by the decade! Interrogator Potter and myself were, by the Emperor's Grace, only just able to prevent them from completely a summoning ritual. I dread to think what unnameable powers may have been manifested in the Cult Magus. Hopefully with the executions carried out today the Cult shall die forever, but only time shall tell and the Emperor's Will shall prevail. _

_Haroldus led the expedition this time, for I am still acclimatising myself to having an augmented arm where I lost it in a clash with the Arch Enemy. He proved his leadership capabilities to be without doubt, and I should think that he will make an extremely able Inquisitor when he is eventually invested. _

_Due to our usual companions being taken out in the preliminary confrontations, along with myself of course, Haroldus improvised well and called upon the services of both the local Arbites and Imperial Navy. He led a group of Naval Warrant Officers and juniors commissioned Officers, along with two groups of Arbite veterans, to victory in the Emperor's Name. _

_Thought for the Day: Alone we stand defeated. With Faith in the Emperor we stand Victorious._

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.045_

_Once again Interrogator Potter was forced into a leadership position whilst I recover from wounds sustained in the preliminary excursions against the Cult. And once again he performed admirably, fulfilling all my expectations. By the Throne, I am glad he is my Interrogator and not some of the buffoons I've seen other Inquisitors saddled with. _

_Once again he called on the Arbites and the Navy to assist him. I am beginning to think he has been cultivating these relationships for a long time. _

_Combating this Cult is like fighting a hydra from legend. Terra, whenever we defeat and kill a Magus another seems to appear not long after. Haroldus suspects that the treason extends up into Planetary government, but I have seen no evidence to support that assumption, and for all his psykic abilities he has never shown any ability at any divinatory process, not even the Emperor's Tarot. His powers do seem to have levelled off over the past decade, now eclipsing my own. He appears to be a High level Beta class psyker with multiple talents, though with a proclivity towards fire._

_Thought for the Day: Though the body may be weak, Faith is all that is needed._

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.051_

_I am beginning to suspect that Interrogator Potter may be correct in thinking that someone high up in the Planetary Government is involved in this heresy. The Cult managed to gain possession of a Regional Military Station, the security codes for which would have to have come from Central Command. After appropriating forces from the regiment of Imperial Guard who's ship was in orbit, we stormed the heretic outpost and were able to regain control of it relatively swiftly and with minimal losses. _

_Subsequent interrogation of those captured revealed only that their leader was not present, but we were not able to discover their identity or their source in Central Command. Needless my first priority is tracking down leads to locate the Cult Leader and hence the traitor inside the Government._

_Thought for the Day: For those who seek perfection there can be no rest this side of the grave._

_Clearance Level: Vermillion_

_Inquisition Code: _

_Inquisitorial Access: Aqua-Eagle_

_Date: M41.055_

To: Lord Inquisitor Hastellus

From: Inquisitor Perpessio

Subject: Interrogator Potter

Message:

Sir

It is to my great pleasure to report that I feel my Interrogator has now reached and surpassed the level required for him to enter the active ranks of the Holy Imperial Inquisition. I understand that he is perhaps to be considered rather young for such an honour but given the current surge in heretical behaviour, the presence of a well trained, incredibly powerful psykic would increase the Ordo's capabilities against the vile foe.

He has served me admirably as an Apprentice and then as my Interrogator, but his skills, especially of the psykic nature, have far surpassed mine and I feel that all he has left to learn he would pick up quickly whilst preparing to serve the Holy Emperor in his own right.

your servant

Inquisitor Perpessio

Ordo Hereticus

Thought for the Day: Hesitation is weakness. Weakness is heresy.


End file.
